Fast food chain KFC will be creating up to 9,000 jobs by opening more restaurants in the UK over the next three to five years,says a media report.

“Fast food chain KFC is to buck the trend of the credit crunch and create up to 9,000 new UK jobs through a 150 million pounds investment programme that will see it open as many as 300 new restaurants over the next three to five years,” ‘The Telegraph’ has reported.

Attributing to KFC,the report noted that the company is enjoying strong growth as Britons are drawn towards cheaper eat-out deals in the face of the recession.

“Last year,we opened 36 restaurants and in 2009 we will open 44 more. We are seeing really strong growth,” Martin Shuker,chief executive of KFC in the UK and Ireland was quoted as saying.

The report said that Shuker claims to be taking market share from fast food rivals such as McDonald’s but he also believes that the category is growing by attracting value shoppers who are trading down from more expensive food.

Further quoting Shuker,the daily said that each of the new restaurants would employ between 25 and 40 people working in shifts.

It added that KFC currently has 22,000 staff in the UK,with the lowest-band recruitment starting at minimum wage of 5.73 pounds an hour for people over the age of 21.